His girlfriend was shot and killed on TV. Now Chris Hurst is running for office
Instead, on a damp Tuesday after
That's the day
Now, Hurst, who grew up on the Main Line, is on the other side of the news, a Democrat running an underdog campaign for state delegate in a southwest
Hurst insists that new gun laws are not his driving priority -- but they cast a long shadow here. A decade ago
Yet Hurst begins his speech tonight by pointing to
Those young adults, he says, now face a deeply uncertain future.
"In my own way," he says, "I've been on a difficult road, too."
At just 30, Hurst's road already includes a seemingly charmed career and deep love -- and then sudden, wrenching, loss. It now overlaps with the country's charged political moment and its raw cultural chasms.
Other things are bigger -- until it happens to you
He's running in a district nestled amid the
Given Hurst's story, the local contest in a district of about 80,000 has drawn unusual attention. Hurst is followed today by a
"It feels like there's a lot of things converging here that might be a microcosm," Johnson says.
He films as Hurst speaks to his young supporters, delivering his speech with the casual authority of a former anchor.
He talks about keeping guns away from domestic abusers and the mentally ill, but adds, "this campaign has never been solely about gun violence." So he also stresses climate change, equal pay for women, abortion rights and racial injustice -- and insists that a new wave of millenial energy will change
After the speech, Hurst mingles with the students, chatting about issues, pizza and Facebook, though eventually the talk again turns to guns.
"We are going to see action on this issue," Hurst says -- but only once a critical mass of people have seen or felt the effects of shootings first-hand. Getting to that point, he laments, means more will be hurt first. "It's frustrating," he says.
Parker's parents -- like former Congresswoman
"Other things are bigger priorities -- until it happens to you,"
That was the last I saw her
It happened early one August morning in 2015.
Hurst, who grew up in Chester County and spent countless hours in the Conestoga High School TV studio, had arrived in
He and Parker connected at a holiday party in 2014, and by
He would work evenings, anchoring the 6 and
The morning she died was the same. It was less than two months after they began living together. Hurst gave Parker a kiss and wished her a great day. She said she'd have one. "And that was the last I saw her," Hurst says.
While Parker interviewed the head of a local chamber of commerce that morning, a disgruntled former WDBJ reporter, Vester L. Flanagan II, approached off camera and opened fire. It aired live.
Parker was 24, shot in the head and chest. Also killed was her cameraman,
Hurst quickly returned to his work as an anchor, but over time covering tragedies wore on him.
In October he went to the scene of a workplace shooting, using the same live truck Alison had the day she died.
"The first person I wanted to call and tell how good of a job I'd done was Alison," he says, "and I couldn't do it."
He needed a change. Among those who encouraged him to run for office were Parker's parents.
"Chris is like a son to us -- he was going to be our son and he's one of the sharpest, finest young men that I've ever known," says
He and Barbara wear the same turquoise bracelet as Hurst as they walk through neighborhoods just a few blocks from downtown
But that's only part of this district.
From here. For Us.
Drive over
At the county line a red campaign sign alongside the highway reads: "Yost for delegate. From here. For us."
It's followed soon after by a tractor trailer with a giant drawing of the Ten Commandments and the phrase "One Nation Under God." The district is full of natural beauty, but, says
This is where the Republican incumbent,
"For me, it's about my home," Yost, 31, says in his office in
He calls Hurst's decision to leave
Yost's office sits in a two-block downtown, where many of the storefronts are vacant and there's hardly anyone on the streets. In an empty barbershop a sign proclaims: "The Silent Majority Stands with Trump." There's also a flag: "Don't Tread on My
Yost was watching WDBJ when Parker was shot. But he says Hurst's back story doesn't come up much, and that he's campaigning the same as always -- promoting his work on education and mental health issues.
He has an "A" rating from the
"There's more to guns than just owning a weapon," he says. "A lot of it deals with traditions around here such as hunting and other sports, and that's something that people are very passionate about."
A Painful Spotlight
About 30 miles away, back on the other side of
Hurst says he never dreamed about running for office -- but wanted to give back to a community that supported him during a dark time. As with reporting, he says, it's important to be trusted, to listen to people who have been ignored, and to tell their stories.
"I was given a spotlight that I really wish I had a receipt for," he says. "So what can I do that shines a light on the people that I really think need to be seen?"
Hurst says he left
Asked about his priorities, he doesn't mention guns until asked. Instead he focuses on expanding Medicaid, supporting the Affordable Care Act, increasing aid for rural schools and hospitals and improving infrastructure -- in
"I'm never going to boil it down to just, kind of, touchstone phrases that we've heard for so many years on things that just continue to not really get achieved," he says. "I want to look at legislation that's going to save lives."
Accused in the wilds of the internet of being part of a hoax to impose gun control, he stresses that he owns a shotgun and doesn't want to harm the hunting traditions in this area. "It's not really a major part of the campaign," he says, of gun laws.
Outside his office, however, on a poster where supporters write down "Why I Support Chris," gun control is the most common topic.
"Because we will neVer forgeT," one response reads in part. "#livefor32."
"This town is still very much wounded from what happened," Hurst explains, speaking as someone who knows.
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